Gloria J Zucaro's "The Palette Knife & The Weather"

I loved a palette knife floral that Ann Feldman did a couple of months ago and asked her when she would be teaching another class for palette knife. She didn't have any until Spring she said, but would do a special one if I could get enough people.  So I rounded up artist friends and all nine of us had a great day with Ann. 

Ann did a landscape demo first thing in the morning and gave us a photo as a reference for our painting after the demo.

This week I touched up my two oil paintings I had done with Ann in her workshop.

Below is my landscape using the reference.  We drew a rough outline in paint with a small brush first, then started our painting with the palette knife.

10" x 8" on canvas sheet.

After lunch, Ann and I set-up three still life florals for the artists to choose from.  I had brought all the vases and flowers to use for the still life.  Ann did another demo and then we started painting our own florals from whichever set-up we chose.

My choice to paint.

10" x 8" on Canvas sheet.

As far as the weather...considering the dilemma in Buffalo, New York we are extremely lucky in Chicago.  Here are a couple of photos of our first little dusting of snow.  One at night when it was first falling, and one the nest day from my kitchen window.

The back yard (click on photo to see more clearly)

And finally here is my new fish tank on the chalk painted(and loaded with three coats of hand-applied wax!)table.

Real plants and two fish.  A Fancy-Tail Goldfish and a small Koi.

Did you know you should only put one inch of fish for each gallon of water?  So I have about 6" of fish in a ten gallon tank.  In a year I will need a 20 gallon tank!

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Gloria J Zucaro's "Step Four & Palette Knife Landscape"

This week for Paint Party Friday, I have two paintings to show you for the week.  I also did two ink drawings for the Diva Challenge which I posted on Monday night.  Below is my final painting done in Ann Feldman's Contemporary Impressionism class.  We all used only a palette knife and a photograph she had of the scene.  The main lesson was blocking in the three values, Dark, Mid and Light first thing.  But even as we did that we used lots of different colors in the correct value, as you can see if you click on the image to enlarge.

10"H x 8"W on Oil on GessoBord

$75.00 starting bid on Daily Paintworks

Next is an update on my galaxy painting.  This week I took out Saturn which was not in a good area.  Then I used all my dark colors of blues, alizarin, and veridian to make a more interesting sky/outer space in the background.  I also started mixing various grays to block in my paper clips, Christmas tree hooks, and washers.  Next I will finish painting my sculpture, add more planets in the background, and do the foreground.  Click to enlarge.

24"H x 18"W Oil on Stretched Canvas.  Happy Paint Party Friday!

Check all the other artists who have contributed their time this week.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Stone Barn"

8"H x 16"W Original Oil on Raymar Panel

Unframed   To buy it now for $50.00 contact me at Email 

or bid on Ebay Ebay click here

I painted this barn and wagon from photos I had taken when I went to visit The Volkening Farm in Schaumburg, Illinois.  It is a working farm replica of an 1880's rural German farm community.  It was done with a palette knife which gives it a lot of texture.  I especially liked the stone base of this red barn so didn't show the top of the barn, and the "Dutch" door to enter the lower level.  This is my Paint Party Friday entry for this week.  Hopefully after my gallery show this weekend, I will get back on my regular painting and networking schedule!  Happy PPF!